Oh, ho ho - you all think I am such a movie snob with my preferring foreign films, subtitles and independent films over most of the blockbusters and trashy-lame-waste-of-money American movies that make us look like idiots that we mass-produce and send out across the world...oh do NOT get me started!
In any case - tonight I attended a showing of the
Transformers Movie with my sister Sara, her German husband Sven, my brother Gabe and my 2 nephews: Isaac and Isaiah. Oh yeah - a real summer BLOCKBUSTER - even dishing out the $10.50 to go see it - ouch!! Well, let me explain. Sara and I were avid fans of the Transformers cartoon back in the 1980s. We were probably about 12/13 or so and loved it - I realize mostly boys were probably into it - but Sara and I were not just sweet goody-goodies, but sweet goody-goody sci-fi animation nerds!! Now listen - we were not allowed to watch much TV in the Martinez household growing up. But we
were allowed to watch our beloved
Autobots fight the evil
Decepticons every afternoon!
Tonight was a treat to go with Sara to the motion picture - since we were part of the mid-30s fan base in the audience that actually hooted and hollered at recognition of the robots when introduced. Holla - Nerd fest!!! Loved it!! It was also very cool to go with big brother Gabe since he took us 20 years ago to the first motion picture - which was animated (and better than this one to original fans).
The computer graphics were awesome - certainly to be expected and didn't let us down. Definite complaints was an okay story-line and the fact that they only portrayed about 10 robots in the movie - there are many more than that. Also, it took a LONG time in the storyline before they brought out all the robots - more Transformers and LESS humans and their cheesy jokes!!
The ending leads to an obvious sequel - which undoubtedly will feature more robots (and those who didn't make the cut this time). It was a lot of fun to share the excitement with my young nephews who are being taught the ways of the Force, and Fantasy through us and Uncle Gabe introducing them to Star Wars, the Hobbit books and now this. Good times!!
Movie gets a
B- for fabulous images, robot voice-overs from the original characters, a leading teen who actually wasn't annoying and made us like him, not enough about the robots, and a mediocre storyline that seriously lacked the heart and real character-depth of the robots, themselves. As for me: it's back to my foreign films....
Every summer San Diego hosts the enormous int'l convention of Comic-Con. I have had the pleasure of being hired to model at it a few times and it's just full of zaniness. A true geek paradise, it's not only limited to the comic book industry, but also science fiction, books, movies, video games and animation as well. 
It has become so enormous that Hollywood celebrities actually attend to promote their upcoming movies and even screen their movies that won't be released for another year! People get into the spirit by dressing up. Thousands of dollars are spent on paraphernalia. Young and old convene. It's a real hoot! 
Needless to say my sci-fi uber Trekkie and Star Wars 41 year old brother will be attending again (at least he now has nephews to take with him). Also, Jimmy - my actor friend from New York City, will be coming out for his 2nd year at the Comic-Con. It will be a great time for all of them walking around, posing for pictures with half-naked alien space babes, attending forums, standing in lines for autographs, buying things and eating junk food. Whew! I'm almost sorry that I am going to miss it this year! :) hehehe 
Enjoy the pictures from previous Comic-cons!!
